


A Collection of Firsts

by shadowtraveled (meteorfest)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-12
Updated: 2015-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-26 01:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4983763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meteorfest/pseuds/shadowtraveled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Various firsts in the budding relationship between Nico di Angelo and Pollux.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Collection of Firsts

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 7's "First Times" prompt for rarepairproject. The prompt encouraged writing a pairing I've never written before, so I chose Nico/Pollux from the list and went a little crazy.

> _First Words_

Nico had never spoken to Pollux before when the son of Dionysus approached him. It was towards the end of the summer session and everyone who had homes and families to return to was getting ready to leave camp for the summer. Nico and Pollux were just two of many who were year-rounders and, now that Nico had decided to stay at camp after all, there would be plenty of time for him to get to know the other campers and speak to those he’d never spoken to before.

Pollux seemed nervous when he came up to Nico. That wasn’t exactly unusual, though. Nico knew that he frightened other campers sometimes, being the child of Hades, considered by some to be bad luck, his aura and powers over the dead making the more superstitious campers skittish around him. Others had begun to approach him anyways, like Will, Lou Ellen, Cecil, and Mitchell. Over the last couple of weeks since the war against Gaea and her giants had come to an end, Nico had begun to make friends with some of these other campers - his crush on Will, which had him reconsider leaving camp to begin with, had come to a quick end when he realized that Will and Mitchell were already dating; he’d gotten the wrong impression of Will’s friendly nature and, though he mentally kicked himself for it, the friendship he still made with the son of Apollo and the others kept him at camp anyways.

So, used to being treated cautiously by other campers, Nico let Pollux step towards him, the other boy’s otherworldly violet eyes nervously shifting.

“I’m not as scary as people make me out to be,” Nico promised the older demigod, breaking the ice between them.

Pollux gave a start when Nico spoke up and, for a moment, Nico thought it was because he’d actually scared the son of Dionysus. Surprisingly, Pollux just gave a shake of his head. “N-no, that’s not…I’m not scared of you,” he told Nico. There was honesty in his voice and just a soft tone of bewilderment, as though Pollux was confused that Nico would think he was scared of the younger demigod. “I just…I had something I wanted to ask you.”

Nico arched a brow at him. Very few people wanted to ask Nico anything, if they weren’t in his slowly growing group of friends. “What is it?”

Pollux shifted his body, bringing a freckled hand to his hair, fingers combing through blond curls. “I…uh…is it true you can…call up spirits?”

Nico paused at the question. It was true, yes, but it took him a moment to figure out why Pollux was asking. Then he remembered the summer after Bianca had died and the battle that ensued at the entrance of the Labyrinth that led into camp. Pollux, he remembered, had lost his twin brother in that fight. Nico could see now, looking up at the older demigod, how much his brother’s death still hurt Pollux. The same pain that Nico had felt for the longest time from his sister’s death reflected in Pollux’s eyes.

“You want me to summon him, don’t you?” Nico asked.

Pollux bit his lip, hesitating for a moment before giving a light nod. “Y-yeah, but…I know it’s probably not a good idea to just…call him up and pull him away from the afterlife. And you don’t  _have_ to, I mean. You can say no. I just…never really got to say good bye.”

Nico gave an understanding nod. “And you want closure. He’s your brother.”

“i just want to know he’ll wait for me.”

Nico saw the way Pollux tensed as silence fell between them for a moment. He understood wanting to say goodbye, wanting to get closure, and, even, wanting to know that there’d be someone waiting. He’d thought that maybe Bianca would have waited for him, so that they could maybe go see their mother together after Nico died. Bianca hadn’t waited, though, and had chosen to be reborn. Nico couldn’t blame her for her decision, but it still hurt to know that she wouldn’t be there for him when he died. Pollux may yet have his brother waiting.

Finally, Nico gave a nod. “Come to my cabin tonight. Midnight would be the best time, so you’ll have to sneak out after curfew. I’ll have everything ready.”

> _First Smile_

On reflection, Nico couldn’t remember the last time Pollux had smiled. Granted, he’d never really known the older teen before, since Pollux was four years his senior and a year-rounder at Camp Half-Blood, where Nico had previously only been there for short stays at a time, a few days here and there, maybe a full weekend if he was tired and needed to recharge. Before he started staying at camp permanently, Nico had only seen Pollux a few times and the son of Dionysus has always been fairly down, his smiles faked or only half-hearted.

Since his decision to stay, Nico was often put together with Pollux for camp activities, along with one of the cabins with only a few campers, since they were both the sole resident of their respective cabins. Dionysus, because of his punishment from Zeus shortly after Castor and Pollux had been born, had no other demigod children in camp - all the rest older than Pollux by several years or at Camp Jupiter, born of Bacchus, rather than Dionysus. With Hazel having returned to Camp Jupiter with most of the other Romans, Nico was as alone as Pollux was once they returned to their own cabins.

In all that time, he couldn’t remember seeing a genuine smile on Pollux’s face.

But when Nico called up Castor’s spirit that night, beneath the tears the streamed down Pollux’s face, there was an honest, truly happy smile on the son of Dionysus’ lips. Though the brothers couldn’t touch, they managed the closest facsimile of a hug, both of them so glad to see each other. Hidden in the back of the recently refurbished Hades cabin, the trio sat together, though Nico kept mostly silent and out of the way while the twins caught up with each other. Castor spoke of Elysium and the campers there that Pollux knew, of all the great food and drink in Elysium, how it was everything paradise was supposed to be. Pollux, in return, told Castor of everything that had happened in the last year, told Castor of their half-brother, Dakota, at Camp Jupiter, and how Dakota was going to come spend the holidays at Camp Half-Blood with them.

By the time that Nico couldn’t hold Castor’s spirit on the mortal plane anymore without facing some serious backlash, Pollux and Castor had run out of things to talk about. They did finally get their closure and Castor swore on the Styx that he wasn’t leaving Elysium until Pollux got there, and they repeated their hug before Castor left.

Pollux turned to Nico and gave the son of Hades a huge, grateful smile, showing his still crooked teeth with his silver braces. Tears were still in the corners of his crinkled, violet eyes, but the emotion there was less the sadness and pain from before and more gratitude and happiness.

“I can’t thank you enough,” he told Nico. He brought his hand up to palm away the tears. “This meant so much to me. I don’t know how I can repay you.”

“Start living again,” Nico suggested. He’d seen how Pollux had been going, day by day, just existing. Without his brother, he hadn’t been really living. “Your brother’s going to wait for you. Live the life he’d want you to have, so when you do go to Elysium, you have a lifetime of stories to tell him.”

Pollux nodded, still smiling, though his tears had come back anew at Nico’s words. “Y-yeah. That sounds like a good idea.” Giving a yawn, now that the excitement was over and the realization that it was nearly two in the morning was coming to him, Pollux started towards the door to sneak his way back to his own cabin. He paused at the door and turned back to Nico. “Hey. We’ve got Arts and Crafts together tomorrow. Want to hit the camp store for a snack or something after?”

Nico couldn’t help a small smile that crossed his lips. “Sure.”

> _First Butterflies_

After that night when Nico had helped Pollux get some closure with his brother’s death, the two of them started to hang out more. Pollux soon joined Nico’s circle of friends, easily fitting in with the others, having always gotten along with most of the campers. Mitchell had been friends with Pollux before, but after Castor’s death, the other son of Dionysus had been hard to keep in touch with, distancing himself from his friends, but now Mitchell was glad to have his friend back.

Pollux took Nico’s advice to heart and started living again. Where he had once only gone through the motions of life, training and doing camp activities without passion or heart, he was now getting back into the swing of things, talking to his friends, laughing with them, and smiling again. He’d never truly be the same as he’d been before Castor’s death, but he was finally beginning to heal because Nico had helped him get that closure with his brother.

People noticed. Dionysus noticed. Though he was usually ready for any excuse to punish a camper for breaking rules - like sneaking out of bed after curfew and summoning the dead after midnight - the fact that his son, his only Greek son, was finally recovering was enough for him to only lecture Nico about rules and only  _threaten_ to turn the son of Hades into a grape vine. Nico still shuddered at the thought and wondered what it was about gods turning him into plants (or threatening to).

As the weeks went by, Nico and Pollux got closer, finding common interests between them, and building up a friendship. It turned out that Pollux collected Mythomagic cards and figures, but didn’t know how to play. Nico, deciding that the old advice from Percy that it was okay to be a kid sometimes, took it on himself to teach Pollux. They played the game together and Pollux introduced Nico to some of the movies that he’d missed. Pollux got really excited when he found out that Nico actually did speak Italian, revealing that he did, too - his mortal grandmother had been Italian and, since she’d been the one to raise Castor and Pollux after their mother had gotten terminally ill, had taught them to speak Italian as well as English.

Campers who stayed only for summer session left, leaving the year-rounders to continue training. Nico was surprised by how many had left. When he’d first come to Camp Half-Blood, during the winter, he’d been sure there had been many more year-rounders. Pollux pointed out that a lot of their numbers were now off to college or had decided to move to New Rome, with the new, if still a little shaky, alliance with the Romans allowing the Greeks to come to the city.

“How come you’re not leaving?” Nico asked, curiously. Pollux was eighteen, almost nineteen, old enough to leave the camp for school, if he chose to do so.

Pollux gave a shrug. “I haven’t decided if I want to go to school yet or not. Dad says I can stay at camp until I figure it out.” He gave Nico a grin. “Besides, I’m still learning to live life again.”

Nico smiled back at him, secretly glad that Pollux was staying. Ever since they’d started hanging out together, he’d found himself liking Pollux more. He often smiled at the son of Dionysus, felt his stomach flutter when the older teen smiled back. Already aware of budding feelings he had towards Pollux, Nico was careful to keep them in check. He’d already been hurt because his first love had never had eyes for him - and it didn’t help that he’d had to lie to Percy about not being his type just to try to get over him. His crush on Will hadn’t panned out, but it had been okay in the end; it was a brief crush, easier to get over than the love he still felt for Percy, in spite of himself.

He really didn’t want to get hurt with Pollux.

> _First Admittance_

Nico first admitted his growing crush on Pollux to Mitchell. While the son of Aphrodite was now in school, the two of them had become quick best friends over the last few weeks of the summer camp session and started calling each other on the phones they now had - the Hecate and Hephaestus kids had teamed up with some of the Romans in order to get their hands on phones and tech that were untraceable by monsters. Many kids who hadn’t had a way to keep in contact with friends and family because of the danger that phones put them in were quick to grab a worry-free phone to finally keep in touch.

Mitchell had insisted that Nico get one so they could keep in contact while the other boy was at home in Manhattan to go to school. When Nico called him to tell him about the crush he was getting on Pollux, the son of Aphrodite seemed pretty well justified in his insistence.

“Talk to me, Nico,” Mitchell demanded on the other end of the line. He and Nico had talked before about the son of Hades’ crushes and Mitchell made it his job to be Nico’s personal coach when it came to crushes and dating. “What is it about Pollux? I get Percy. Who doesn’t crush on Percy? And, of course, I get the crush on Will.”

“That’s because you’re dating Will,” Nico pointed out.

“Pssh. Details.” Mitchell knew that Nico’s crush on his boyfriend had been brief and Nico didn’t hold a grudge against the son of Aphrodite for already dating Will. “Tell me why Pollux.”

Nico shrugged as he sat down on his bunk - the gods awful coffin-shaped beds had finally been replaced with decent beds, wrought-iron framed Victorian style with black sheets. He let himself fall backwards, stretching his arms above his head with a sigh as he tucked the phone into his shoulder. “I dunno,” he admitted. “I just like being around him. He’s fun. We can actually talk to each other. He’s never been scared of me.”

“You do know he turns nineteen in December, right?”

“So? I turn fifteen in January.”

“Just pointing out that he might be a little old for you, Nico,” Mitchell said. “You’re technically a minor, regardless of the seventy years in the magical hotel.”

“It’s just a crush, Mitchell,” Nico countered. He rolled onto his stomach, sprawling out over his mattress. “It’s not like I’m going to go up to Pollux and ask him out on a date just because I think he’s got a great smile and cute butt.”

“You think his butt is cute?” Mitchell’s amused tone made it clear that he was grinning on the other end.

Nico rolled his eyes. “That was partially sarcasm.”

“But partially not, right?”

“I’m hanging up, Mitchell.” He started to pull his phone from his ear, only to have Mitchell tell him to wait, that he’d ease up on the teasing. They dropped the subject of the crush after a few minutes, switching to a different subject.

Eventually, Mitchell had to hang up because he had school in the morning and needed to get his beauty sleep - his words. Nico turned his phone off for the night, as was his habit, and started to change for bed. He knew he’d lied to Mitchell, saying that it was just a crush that he had on Pollux. He knew he was lying to himself, trying to pass off his budding feelings as just a crush. Will had been  _just a crush_. Percy had been his  _first love_.

Pollux was  _somewhere between those two_.  

Nico just wasn’t sure where yet.

> _First Date (Planned)_

October rolled around before most of the camp seemed to know it. Despite being separated from the mortal world, in their corner of Long Island Sound, the kids at Camp Half-Blood still had an innate sense of when it was the perfect time to start getting ready for Halloween.

Which was to say, they had already been decorating the camp before September had even ended.

As the month began going by, more and more decorations were being set up. There seemed to be a competition going on among the cabins to see who could set up the spookiest decorations. More than a couple of the Hermes kids were trying to convince Nico to join in the competition, insisting that no one could do spooky like a son of Hades. Nico was sure they just didn’t want to the Hecate cabin to win.

Arts and Crafts had turned from the usual activities to everyone’s attempts to put together the perfect Halloween costume. The entire camp was chattering in excitement for the holiday, regardless of age, parentage, social upbringing, whatever situation one could think of to compare. There were talks of actually doing trick-or-treating in camp, with one person from each cabin manning the candy bowl at various times of the night to hand out treats before taking their turn going around for candy. The Aphrodite kids were throwing a costume party. The Hephaestus kids were planning a spooky light show. Everyone was getting in gear for the holiday.

Pollux sat next to Nico in Arts and Crafts, as he did every time they had the activity hour together. He was diligently working on his costume, which he said was meant to be Bilbo Baggins. Nico had laughed when Pollux told him who he was dressing up as, telling the older demigod that he’d never have pegged Pollux for a Tolkien fan. Pollux gave his own laugh and explained that he liked the book, though it was difficult to read with his ADHD and dyslexia.

“What are you dressing up as?” Pollux asked.

“I’m not dressing up,” Nico replied as he continued to work on his painting. Unlike everyone else, it seemed, he was not working on a costume. Instead, he was steadily working on a series of paintings that, while vague and showed little artistic talent from the son of Hades, were Nico’s outlet to get out some of the nightmares he still had from his time in Tartarus. “I’m scary enough without a costume, remember?”

Pollux gave a grin. “Maybe to someone else, but I don’t think you’re that scary.”

“Tell that to Bryce Lawrence,” Nico muttered. He dragged his brush across the canvas as his face fell.

Pollux was quiet for a moment. Nico hadn’t told him about Bryce, how he’d literally made the other demigod fade away, made it so that Bryce didn’t exist. It was something that Nico hadn’t told anyone. Reyna and Hedge knew because they were witness to it, but Nico didn’t dare speak of it to anyone else, in fear that they would call him a murderer. Nico gripped at his brush and was about to stand up and leave when Pollux spoke up again.

“So, uh, I take it you…wouldn’t want to go to the costume party with me?”

The brush fell from Nico’s fingers, splattering dark red paint on his black jeans as it dropped into his lap. He felt his face heating up. “Go to the party?”

“Kind of…like a date, maybe?” Pollux reiterated. His face, boyish and round, was bright red and his violet eyes were cast down as his freckled hand ran through his curls. “I mean, I know I’m…kind of older than you and all. But I like you. You helped me live again and that…really…ah, sorry, this is dumb. I thought maybe…”

“Maybe I’d  _like_ to go with you.”

“Yeah, something like that,” Pollux sighed, closing his eyes. “I know. It’s silly and - ”

Nico let a small smirk cross his lips. “And I’d like to go with you.”

Pollux looked up at him, eyes opening again. “Wait…really?”

“Yeah,” Nico replied. “I mean…parties aren’t really my thing, but I’d go with you.”

A smile blossomed on Pollux’s face when he realized that Nico was actually saying yes to going with him. It was a wide, genuine smile, braces glittering in the light and the dimple on his cheek creasing under his eye. “Great! Maybe…I can pick you up for the party at nine?”

“Sure,” Nico smiled. He picked up his brush from where it had fallen and grabbed a cloth to try to get the paint off his jeans. “I’m still not wearing a costume.” 


End file.
